The Tie Maketh the Man
by Aromene
Summary: Four men. Neckwear and it's importance to them through the ages. Fandoms: Twilight, Forever, Sherlock, The Originals.


**Disclaimer: Rather unfortunately, for my bank account, I don't own any of these****productions.**

**AN: Apparently I have a thing for neckwear. I've only just discovered this. But it does put a lot of my previous crushes in a new light.**

**xxx**

Carlisle Cullen

It's a throwback to a time when men would not have been seen outside their house with their necks fully encased in fabric; rigid support to maintain an upright posture that distinguished a gentleman from a worker. He has never been able to quite let go of the comfort that is so very familiar.

He enjoys finding scarves that are both traditional and yet modern and wears them almost every day that he is not at the hospital, feeling almost naked if there is not something wrapped about his neck.

He wears ties to work though, because it is expected, and has been for the better part of a hundred and fifty years since the cravat and it's descendants were overturned in the Industrial Revolution. He's grown quite accustomed to the sensation of tying the long thin piece of silk about his neck each morning or – these days – allowing Esme to do it for him. There's intimacy in such a shared ritual, as much as there is when she unties it at the end of the day.

And he's grown rather fond of being given ties for Christmas, particularly of Emmett's more flamboyant style and Edward's traditional pastels.

xxx

Henry Morgan

He's used to wearing ties. Before that neckties were tighter and even more constrictive and the invention of the modern fashion was a blessing he quickly adopted. For a long while it was always black, but more recently colour has become not just a fashion statement, but also an expectation. He's become rather fond of matching new ties and suits together.

But he always grabs a scarf too, of course, because New York is cold half the year and he likes to be warm. Even in the warmer months in late spring and early fall he will usually reach for a silk scarf as long as it is still cool enough for a coat, and even then he'll often drape a scarf about his suit jacket. Abe calls them his 'security blankets' and maybe they are, however childish that sounds. He can't quite seem to let them go, nonetheless.

Particularly after Jo gifts him a lovely maroon patterned one for Christmas their first year working together.

xxx

Elijah Mikaelson

He doesn't always wear a tie, but he will willingly admit – to himself – that he is most comfortable in one. He prides himself on his appearance, and sees no fault in that. His siblings may have adopted the more modern types of dress, but the elegance and rigidness of the 19th century appealed to him at the time, and never left him. The simplicity of a suit is a comfort that has not changed in longer than anything else.

It is – almost – like a suit of armour. A way to not only go unnoticed in the circles in which he prefers to travel, but also it is a protection against the world. No one would ever suspect him of what he is, brushed and coiffed in Italian tailoring. It is as much of a lie as anything else, and yet one he has learned to use to his full advantage.

And he has always worn it better than Klaus.

xxx

Sherlock Holmes

London is cold. It's damp and blustery. And all those other things that foreigners complain about ruining their holidays and Londoners complain about because it's a God given right of residency in the city.

Anyone who does not grab a scarf on their way out the door is simply asking for a cold neck during their daily run between cabs, the underground and the city's many buildings.

Sherlock would much rather cold hands than a cold neck. He's had the thick woollen scarf for more years than he wants to count (but not more than he can) and has become as fond of it as anything else in his life. The tabloids might prefer the deerstalker, but he prefers the dark blue warmth of wool about his neck when the winds blow from the arctic and London shivers in the dreary cold of winter.


End file.
